Your Forever: The Eight of Wands Read Online Free Page A

singer I’d be a singer. But I wanted to teach, so I’m teaching. And I love it. And if it gives me the opportunity to sing sometimes, that’s okay, but I’m doing important stuff there.” He stopped and let out a deep breath, and put the guitar aside. “Sorry. I’m pissed off now.”
    Del reached over to rub Theo’s back. It was tense under his palm for a moment or two, and then Theo sighed and relaxed, hanging his arms on his knees and letting his head droop.
    “That feels good,” Theo murmured.
    “Good,” Del said softly and moved up his hand to rub the back of Theo’s neck. He was tense there as well, so Del dug in his fingers, massaging him deeply.
    “You’re good at this.”
    “This is what I do,” Del said, smiling a little. “I help people feel better.”
    Theo practically moaned and Del paused. He usually found it easy to keep his professionalism, but he usually wasn’t massaging a patient on his back porch in the dark while crickets chirped and wind made the pines rustle. He brushed his hand down Theo’s back and then took his hand away.
    “Thanks,” Theo said and straightened up. “That helped. It did.”
    “Good.” He smiled at Theo, trying to keep it light. “So, tomorrow. There’s the fishing trip in the morning, and then we’ll drive up to the lodge, and that night there’s the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and then the wedding is Saturday night at eight.”
    “I don’t think I should go to all of that,” Theo said after a pause. “It’ll be all Jeff’s friends at the bachelor party. If it’s okay I could just stay here and play guitar and watch TV and stuff.”
    “Okay. You will come to the rehearsal and dinner, right?”
    Theo shrugged a shoulder. “I only brought one suit.”
    “It’s informal,” said Del. “You could wear what you’re wearing now. You look pretty good.” It was just a striped button-down Oxford and chinos, but they fit his lanky frame perfectly and brought out the green in his hazel eyes.
    Theo looked down at himself with a muttered, “Thanks.” He looked back up at Del. “What has Jeff told you about me?”
    “Not much,” Del said. “That you were forgetful as a kid.”
    “Flaky, you mean,” Theo said. “It’s okay. I know.”
    “Absent-minded,” Del said. “But creative people tend to be, I’ve found. They’ve got other things to think about than if they remembered the milk. And you must do okay with the kids, so you can’t be as terribly flaky as Jeff thinks you are.”
    “Yeah, I do okay.” He stretched his neck from side to side. “He’s never thought much of me, you know. It’s my fault his parents divorced so Dad could marry my mom.”
    “Being born is never the kid’s fault,” Del said, surprised that Theo would be so cavalier about the circumstances of his birth. “Your parents made a choice and you were the result.”
    “Jeff thinks it’s my fault. He said so at my dad’s funeral. Our dad’s.” He looked down at his heavy work boot as it scuffed along the porch floorboards. “And my mom wasn’t a slut, either, no matter what Jeff thinks.”
    “Jesus,” Del murmured and closed his eyes. “He doesn’t really think that.”
    “Maybe not anymore, but he used to. He called her that to her face at the funeral. I mean, I get how grief makes people crazy, but she still hasn’t forgiven him for that.”
    “Yeah,” Del said. “I think he knows that’s why she’s not here.”
    “Yeah. But it wasn’t like a boss screwing his secretary out of boredom, you know? I mean, she was his boss, for one thing, and it takes two to commit adultery. Nobody was a saint in this.”
    “I know,” Del said. He made the swing sway with his foot as the wind softly blew through his hair and over his face. Wind chimes rang from his neighbor’s back yard. “Relationships end for all kinds of reasons. That’s what sucks about them. They never last.”
    “Sometimes they do,” Theo said, looking up at Del, shaggy bangs